In the six years DCBLOG has covered MTV Reality, we've often gone beyond the borders of the shows you love by putting them and the people who star in them in context with this world and pop culture at large outside the realms of our screens. The ExtraTime bits that appear around our episode coverage has introduced you to people that might not guest-star on the episodes each week, but are linked in some way to reality TV's most-talked about shows. This one is no exception, though we have plenty of people for us to meet here during this winter cycle, and it has to do with the favorite sport of both my family and this blogger (outside of the fifth major pro sport, of course).
Last week, the National Basketball Association held the 68th annual renewal of its mid-winter night's classic, the NBA All-Star Game in Charlotte, NC. As in past years, players were voted on by the fans and their peers for who would represent the Eastern and Western Conferences in front of a worldwide audience. Plus, in recognition of their service to the game, retiring Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade and 20-year Dallas Mavericks vet Dirk Nowitzki were given special exemptions to this year's game.
But there was a catch: those who were the top votegetters in their respective conferences would be the captains of teams that bear their name... a departure from the traditional East vs. West matchup. And while LeBron James was far and away the biggest draw in the West after his internet-breaking move to the Lakers during a most-eventful offseason last summer, the race to see who would be top dog in the East became more like a free-for-all among the big names there than anything else.
In the end, it was
Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks who netted the most votes of a conference that has to play second fiddle to their western counterparts, and who's on a team that boasts the best record in the Association... all in spite of the Lakers, Warriors, Rockets and the like garnering the biggest buzz by far of NBA fans everywhere. The "Greek Freak" - named for him being born in Greece and having Nigerian roots, stands nearly 7 feet tall and has become the face of the Bucks franchise since coming to America from a stint in the lower tiers of Greek ball.
Giannis has enjoyed a steady rise since his 2013-14 rookie season, including becoming the first player in NBA history to notch top-20 rankings in total points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in a regular season in 2017 - earning him Most Improved Player honors. Thanks to LeBron's second departure from Cleveland (this time having given his city that historic 2016 title in an epic comeback), he became captain of his own All-Star team - his third selection, and in mirroring what has happened in the NFL and NHL in recent years, he and LeBron had the chance to pick their own teams in a draft that was aired as part of a TNT Thursday doubleheader last month.
Besides the two headliners and the two legends, the players that were up for being drafted included a Murderer's Row of Western All-Stars: Stephen Curry, James Harden, Paul George, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Klay Thompson and Anthony Davis. And the East offered Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Joel Embiid, hometown representative Kemba Walker, Blake Griffin, Ben Simmons, and Kyle Lowry. Them and others were placed in a draft pool, as LeBron and Giannis selected backyard style their picks for their mixed East/West All-Star teams.
Team LeBron saw Durant, Kawhi, Harden and Kyrie join him as starters and having Wade on the same team one more time in igniting past memories of that 2016 title with Irving, Olympic gold with JD, and those first two titles of his career with Flash while playing on South Beach. Team Giannis saw him partner with Embiid, PG13 on the same starting lineup and became the local favorite of the Charlotte crowd in having Hornets player Walker (a carryover from when the Charlotte franchise was called the Bobcats before the Hornets name and its related heritage returned from a brief sojourn in New Orleans) and Carolina native Steph on the same starting lineup.
In the last game before the week-long's All-Star winter break, Antetokounmpo and his Bucks faced the Indiana Pacers, in the hometown of one of the most passionate basketball fans this blogger knows, Hayden Weaver from Are You The One? Season 5. The Bucks star netted a triple-double of 33 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists in a 106-97 win on the road, before he led his All-Star team to what would be a close game for most of the way but ended in a 178-164 Team LeBron win. Of course as is always the case in All-Star Games like this, offense would dominate the night, where Durant was the MVP and Giannis was the top scorer with 38 points.
In the postgame presser with the media in Indy, Giannis shared with everyone his plans for the day before traveling down from the Midwest to the Queen City. There, he told the press of just having the usual day off of getting to sleep in, the typical morning routine and to get his hair all fixed before the Association's biggest event. And it's not just the big game on Sunday and the preparations of playing in that showcase: there's all of obligations that come with being an all-star, such as meeting the media, appearing at events around Charlotte (where a friend of this blogger, Jawad Ahmed @SJMedd went to the All-Star Jam Session and watched Inside the NBA live), and everything else.
But absolutely no one, not even those who avidly follow basketball like Hayden and his fellow Season 5 castmate Derrick Henry (who himself is a college hoops veteran who's now become an in-demand MTV star himself post-AYTO), could expect that something else would be part of the several days' All-Star pregaming for Giannis that they are very familiar with.
"So, this is what I am going to do: I'm gonna go back home tonight. I'm gonna sleep all day tomorrow, wake up, get some breakfast, get a show and watch some MTV. I like some drama shows -- Kardashians, Ex On The Beach, Are You The One, The Challenge. Stuff like that... I like drama."
- GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO
That quote of him giving a shoutout to The Challenge, AYTO and Ex On The Beach, as well as a stablemate in the Bunim-Murray family in The Kardasihians franchise (weeks before the cheating scandal that's just erupted involving family friend Jordyn Woods) was also shown on ESPN's SportsCenter as well as on the Bucks' regional TV home Fox Sports Net Wisconsin. It instantly caught the attention of Team MTV on social media... none more so than Mr. Hayden himself:
The 'Pulse diaries that showcase the social media interaction to every episode of The Challenge, Are You The One?, Ex On The Beach and others, often features posts from those who are not everyday fanatics but well-knowns who somehow get themselves interested. Generally, those featured are journalists who work on the entertainment beat and sports reporters who watch the fifth major pro sport while also fixed on other athletic interests before doing the sports segment on the late news... But there are those celebs and athletes who even become as obsessed as we are to MTV Reality... Giannis is the latest to call himself an MTV fan. That's pretty rad, thank you.
- I AM DC
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